Greater rhea
Rhea americana (Linnaeus, 1758)
The greater rhea (Rhea americana), also called the common rhea, is a bird in the family Rheidae and the order Rheiformes. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial, sedentary omnivore of grassland, with an adult body mass of 23 kg and a highest reported value of 23.75 kg.
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Quick facts about the greater rhea
Eggs are incubated for 37 days, with one clutch per year of 23.7 eggs, and sexual maturity comes at 2.5 years. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 6,538,000 km².
- Weight
- 23 kg – 23.8 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 50 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 37 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 19.7 – 23.7src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the greater rhea
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the greater rhea live?
Not recorded
What is the greater rhea?
The greater rhea (Rhea americana) is a species of flightless bird native to eastern South America. Other names for the greater rhea include the grey, common, or American rhea; ema (Portuguese); or ñandú (Guaraní and Spanish). One of two species in the genus Rhea, in the family Rheidae, it inhabits a variety of open areas, such as grasslands, savanna or grassy wetlands. Weighing 20–27 kilograms (44–60 lb), the greater rhea is the largest native bird in the Americas. In the wild, the greater rhea has a life expectancy of 10.5 years. It is also notable for its reproductive habits, and for the fact that a population has established itself in Northern Germany in the 2000s and 2010s. The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
From the Wikipedia article “Greater rhea” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_rhea&oldid=1384184239), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the greater rhea endangered?
The greater rhea is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the greater rhea classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderRheiformes
- familyRheidae
- genusRhea
- SpeciesRhea americana (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Rhea macrorhyncha, Rhea nandu, Rhea nandua, Struthio americanus
Other names and names in other languages (62)
- Balicassiao (mirabilis)English
- Common rheaEnglish
- Common rheaEnglish
- Lesser rheaEnglish
- Spangled drongo (longirostris)English
- RheaAfrikaans
- GrootnandoeAfrikaans
- ريا كبرىArabic
- ريا أميركيArabic
- Adi nanduAzerbaijani
- Голямо нандуBulgarian
- Обикновено нандуBulgarian
- Nandou AmerikaBreton
- NyandúCatalan
- nyandú comúCatalan
- ᎡᏆ ᎠᎺᎵᎨ ᎬᎾ ᎤᏔᎾCherokee
- rhea mawrWelsh
- NanduGerman
- Großer NanduGerman
- granda reaoEsperanto
- Amerika reaoEsperanto
- ÑandúSpanish
- AvestruzSpanish
- Ñandú comúnSpanish
- Ñandú grandeSpanish
- ÑanduBasque
- ریا بزرگPersian
- Nandou d'AmériqueFrench
- Nandou d’AmériqueFrench
- Ñandu guasuGuarani
- ננדו מצויHebrew
- NandúiIcelandic
- NandùItalian
- Nandù comuneItalian
- レアJapanese
- アメリカレアJapanese
- 아메리카레아Korean
- amerikinis nanduLithuanian
- Paprastasis nandas <!--Lithuanian
- ရီးယားငှက်ကုလားအုတ်ပု-->Burmese
- Shádiʼááhdę́ę́ʼ tsídiitsohNavajo
- NandoeDutch
- stornanduNorwegian
- NhandóOccitan
- nandu szarePolish
- xuriPortuguese
- EmaPortuguese
- Ema-comumPortuguese
- guaripéPortuguese
- nandu-comumPortuguese
- nandu-grandePortuguese
- nhanduPortuguese
- НандуRussian
- Обыкновенный нандуRussian
- nandu pampovýSlovak
- Veliki nanduSerbian
- större nanduSwedish
- Büyük ReaTurkish
- нанду великийUkrainian
- 大美洲鴕Chinese
- 大美洲鸵Chinese
- 美洲鴕鳥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the greater rhea
Other species in the same genus Rhea.
Darwin's rhea
Rhea pennata
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the greater rhea?
The greater rhea is a bird in the family Rheidae, order Rheiformes. It is terrestrial and sedentary.
How heavy is a greater rhea?
An adult greater rhea weighs 23 kg, with a highest reported value of 23.75 kg. This places it in the medium size class.
What does the greater rhea eat?
The greater rhea is an omnivore.
Where does the greater rhea live?
The greater rhea lives in grassland. Its geographic range covers 6,538,000 km².
Is the greater rhea endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does a greater rhea have?
A greater rhea clutch holds 23.7 eggs, with one clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 37 days.
Who named the greater rhea?
The greater rhea, Rhea americana, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Greater rhea (Rhea americana). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-rhea
“Greater rhea (Rhea americana).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-rhea.
@misc{greater_rhea_2026,
title = {Greater rhea (Rhea americana)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-rhea},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}